''The Wheeler Dealers'' (a.k.a. ''Separate Beds'' in the UK) is a 1963 American
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
film produced by
Martin Ransohoff
Martin Nelson Ransohoff (July 7, 1927 – December 13, 2017) was an American film and television producer, and member of the Ransohoff, Ransohoff family.
Early life and education
Ransohoff was born on July 7, 1927 in New Orleans, New Orleans, ...
, directed by
Arthur Hiller
Arthur Hiller, (November 22, 1923 – August 17, 2016) was a Canadian-American television and film director with over 33 films to his credit during a 50-year career. He began his career directing television in Canada and later in the U.S. By t ...
and starring
James Garner
James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including '' The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's ''The Ameri ...
and
Lee Remick
Lee Ann Remick (December 14, 1935 – July 2, 1991) was an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film ''Days of Wine and Roses (film), Days of Wine and Roses'' (1962), and for the 1966 ...
. The script was written by
George Goodman
George Jerome Waldo Goodman (August 10, 1930 – January 3, 2014) was an American author and economics broadcast commentator, best known by his pseudonym Adam Smith (which was assigned by Clay Felker at ''New York'' magazine in order to keep his ...
and
Ira Wallach based on Goodman's 1959 novel of the same name. The film was produced by
Filmways
Filmways, Inc. (also known as Filmways Pictures and Filmways Television) was a television and film production company founded by American film executive Martin Ransohoff and Edwin Kasper in 1952. It is probably best remembered as the production c ...
and distributed by
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
.
Garner called the film "a broad comedy in which my character is a lot like Bret Maverick." For his performance, he was nominated for the
.
Plot
Molly Thatcher is a stockbroker languishing in a New York company run by male chauvinist Bullard Bear. When the company does poorly, he decides that he has to fire somebody. As the only female broker, Molly is the obvious choice since dismissing a male broker would make people think the company is in trouble. He assigns her the seemingly impossible task of unloading shares of an obscure company called Universal Widgets, figuring that she will fail, and he will have an excuse to fire her.
Molly meets Henry Tyroon, an aggressive wheeler dealer who dresses, talks, and acts like a stereotypical Texas millionaire. He is interested in her romantically, not Universal Widgets, but decides to help out in order to get closer to her. As they spend time together, Molly watches Henry make complicated business deals, often in partnership with his Texan cronies, Jay Ray, Ray Jay, and J.R. One example is speculative dealing in modern abstract art, with the aid of Stanislas, a cynical
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
painter.
Molly and Henry have trouble figuring out Universal Widgets' reason for existence; its only factory burned down around the time of World War I. It manufactures nothing and provides no services. (Widgets had something to do with horse-drawn carriages.) It is just a corporation on paper whose sole asset is a huge block of shares in
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
, bought long, long ago when the stock was ridiculously cheap. Now it pays out hefty, regular dividends to its few complacent shareholders.
When Henry makes attempts to take control of Universal Widgets by what appears to be questionable methods, over-enthusiastic government regulator Hector Vanson takes him to court. Henry, against all advice, orders oil drilling done on the property, and spreads rumors that investment banks are interested in the company, causing the share price to soar. Further complications arise when Jay Ray, Ray Jay, and J.R. get Molly fired so that she will spend more time with Henry. She thinks Henry is responsible for her firing. She also discovers that he is actually an Easterner and a Yale University graduate; masquerading as a Texan just helps him with his wheeling and dealing. The judge dismisses the Federal Securities Commission case when it is determined that all the Universal Widgets shares are in the hands of just a handful of shareholders, not the general public. Henry and the Texan trio's shares are sold back to the original owners, the Whipple family, then and there, for a sizable profit. The trio also confesses that they were the ones who had Molly fired from her job. Upon hearing this from them, she quickly makes up with Henry, and they kiss.
Cast
*
James Garner
James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including '' The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's ''The Ameri ...
as Henry Tyroon
*
Lee Remick
Lee Ann Remick (December 14, 1935 – July 2, 1991) was an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film ''Days of Wine and Roses (film), Days of Wine and Roses'' (1962), and for the 1966 ...
as Molly Thatcher
*
Phil Harris
Wonga Philip Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, comedian, musician and songwriter. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with ''The Jack Benny Program'', then in ''The Phil Harri ...
as Ray Jay Fox
*
Chill Wills
Theodore Childress "Chill" Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys quartet.
Early life
Wills was born in Seagoville, Texas, on July 18, 1902.
Career
He was a performer from early chi ...
as Jay Ray Spinelby
*
Jim Backus
James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom '' Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in ''Rebel Without a Cause ...
as Bullard Bear
*
Louis Nye
Louis Nye (May 1, 1913 – October 9, 2005) was an American comedic actor. He was an entertainer to the troops during World War II and is best known for his work on countless television, film and radio programs.
Early years
He was born Louis ...
as Stanislas
*
John Astin
John Allen Astin (born March 30, 1930) is an American actor and director who has appeared in numerous stage, television and film roles. He is best known for starring in ''The Addams Family'' (1964–1966), as patriarch Gomez Addams, reprising th ...
as Hector Vanson
*
Elliott Reid
Edgeworth Blair "Elliott" Reid (January 16, 1920 – June 21, 2013) was an American actor.
Early life
Reid was born in Manhattan, the son of artist Christine Challenger Reid and banker Blair Reid. He attended the Professional Children's S ...
as Leonard
*
Pat Harrington Jr.
Daniel Patrick Harrington Jr. (August 13, 1929 – January 6, 2016) was an American Emmy Award-winning stage and television actor, best known for his role as building superintendent Dwayne Schneider on the sitcom '' One Day at a Time'' (1975â ...
as Buddy Zack
*
Joey Forman
Joseph Forman (November 18, 1929 – December 9, 1982) was an American comedian and comic actor.
Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Forman appeared on the late 1940s local radio show the Magic Lady Supper Club along with his school f ...
as Buster Yarrow
*
Patricia Crowley
Patricia Crowley (born September 17, 1933) is an American actress. She was also frequently billed as Pat Crowley.
Early life
Crowley was born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Helen (''née'' Swartz) and coal mining foreman Vincent Cr ...
as Eloise Cott
* Charles Watts as J.R. Martin
*
Howard McNear
Howard Terbell McNear (January 27, 1905 – January 3, 1969) was an American stage, screen, and radio character actor. McNear is best remembered as the original voice of Doc Adams in the radio version of ''Gunsmoke'' and as Floyd Lawson, the ...
as Mr. Wilson
*
Don Briggs
Donald Briggs (January 28, 1911 – February 3, 1986) was an American actor, who appeared in over 75 films and television shows between the 1930s and 1970s.
Early life
Briggs was born in Chicago, Illinois and died in Woodland Hills, California ...
as Len Flink
*
Vaughn Taylor
Vaughn Joseph Taylor (born March 9, 1976) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour.
Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Taylor was raised in Augusta, Georgia, from infancy. After attending Hephzibah High School ...
as Thaddeus Whipple
*
Robert Strauss as Feinberg, Taxi Driver
*
John Marley
John Marley (born Mortimer Marlieb, October 17, 1907 – May 22, 1984) was an American actor who was known for his role as Phil Cavalleri in '' Love Story'' and as Jack Woltz—the defiant film mogul who awakens to find the severed head ...
as Achilles Dimitros
*
Peter Leeds
Peter Leeds (May 30, 1917 – November 12, 1996) was an American actor who appeared on television more than 8,000 times and also had many film, Broadway, and radio credits. The majority of his work took place in the 1950s and 1960s. Working ...
as Arthur Watkins
Reception
In a contemporary review for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', critic
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
wrote of the film: "Its gags are so studiously pegged to the business of doing money business that very little monkey business is done. And the business is so complicated–so glib with the percentages and stuff–that anybody but another wheeler dealer might have a hard time keeping up. ... What might be brightly satiric simply isn't because it lacks wit. Too much double entry and too little double entendre."
''
Dallas Morning News
''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
'' critic John Rosenfield was more positive, calling the film "raucous in its lampoonery" and praising the cast: "Garner and Miss Remick play delightfully. He is as feathery as a
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...
and of more plausible personal stature. Miss Remick ... is quite pleasantly watchable. This is, we think, her first effort at farce and she's good at it."
Home media
''The Wheeler Dealers'' was released on June 27, 2011 by Warner Home Video as a widescreen Region 1 DVD through its Warner Archive DVD-on-demand service. The film was released on Blu-ray on April 25, 2017.
See also
*
List of American films of 1963
A list of American films released in 1963.
''Cleopatra'' - the highest-grossing film of 1963.
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A-C
D-G
H-M
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T-Z
See also
* 1964 in the United States
External links
1963 filmsat the Internet Movie Database
{{DEFAULTSO ...
References
External links
*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler Dealers, The
1963 films
1963 romantic comedy films
American business films
American romantic comedy films
Films scored by Frank De Vol
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Arthur Hiller
Films set in New York City
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Wall Street films
1960s business films
Filmways films
1960s English-language films
1960s American films